Since the invention of the bicycle in the mid 1800s, humans have utilized this mode of transportation for both industry and recreation and have continued to advance the associated technology. The bicycle has become almost a necessity in the lives of humans around the world, and for good reason, it is one of the most efficient devices ever invented by man. It takes less energy per unit distance covered to move a bicycle then any other machine. Such efficiency comes from the riders use of the large leg muscles in a smooth rotary motion which, when pedaling at sufficient revolutions per unit of time, is a highly efficient use of human power output.
Long before the bicycle, man harnessed the wind as a mode of transportation, discovering that a boat could be efficiently propelled given a reasonably sized and shaped sail to capture the wind along with a hull designed so as to impart a particular vector direction to the boat from the wind force applied across the sails.
Although the use of the wind to produce energy has been and is under constant development, only recently has there been an attempt to utilize wind power as a direct motive force on land vehicles.
One method of utilizing the wind power for vehicles incorporates a sail and rigging highly similar to that of a traditional sail boat attached to specially developed land vehicles such as ice boats and light dune buggies, and while this has achieved a modicum of success in certain areas of the world, the addition of such a sail to a conventional bicycle has hereto been unknown.
Because of the operating conditions under which a cyclist must travel, it is difficult if not impossible to handle a conventional sail as used in a sail boat. The wind direction, wind speed and direction of travel as well as the speed of the cyclist makes orientation and control of the sail critical to successful and efficient use of such a combination. In order to effectively use the combination of wind power as a partial motive force for a bicycle, it is necessary to overcome problems such as control over sail movement and alignment in addition to control of the bicycle without impairing the rider's ability to safely negotiate traffic and variable road conditions.